1% Better Every Day...
My learnings from James Clear's Atomic Habits book
Happy Monday Everyone,
I just finished reading Atomic Habits by James Clear, a must-read! This year, I’m committed to being more of a book reader than a book hoarder, but also making sure I'm learning from the books rather than just reading to say I've read X amount of books this year. This led me to start taking notes while reading and there are some great lessons I would like to share from Atomic Habits.
Atomic Habits, as you might have gathered from the name, talks a lot about building habits and breaking bad habits but dives a lot into how these minuscule changes can grow life-altering outcomes. Below are three great lessons I've learnt from Atomic Habits.
The aggregation of marginal goals
This is all about getting 1% better at what you do every day. Small improvements accumulate into remarkable results. Too often we convince ourselves that massive success requires massive action but success comes from the little steps that add up to something great. If you can get 1% better each day for one year, you’ll end up 37% better by the time you’re done. Conversely, if you get 1% worse each day for one year you’ll decline nearly down to zero.
Source: Jamesclear.com
Small changes are hard to notice when zoomed in but once you zoom out and look back over the years, the differences are apparent. A slight change in your daily habit can guide your life to a very different destination. Success is the product of daily habits not once in a lifetime transformation.
Systems over goals
Atomic Habits tells the story of Sir Dave Brailsford, the British Cycling coach who drastically improved the performance of the British Cycling Team. Brailsford focused on improving every aspect of the team by 1%. He focused on improving systems rather than setting goals.
It’s important to focus on goals because when you’re competing in a race, the winner does not win because they have bigger goals than you, you both have the same goal to win the race. You win the race by your systems; your training process, your diet, mastering your technique, etc.
You get what you repeat
Your habits make you who you are. Focus on the inputs and the outputs will fix themselves. The most effective way to change your habits is to focus on who you wish to become rather than what you want to achieve. If you wish to become a highly organised individual, you put the right systems in place. You can start by making your bed, creating a to-do list, prioritising your tasks, clearing up after you're done, etc.
One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where your desired behaviour is the normal behavior. This could be being part of a fitness club, mastermind group, or book club. It’s easier to build habits when your environment is designed for you to do it naturally. If you struggle with building good habits, look to join or create environments that will make it easier for you to.
To conclude, there is great power in small steps. In the beginning, small improvements can often seem meaningless. Gradually though, as you continue to layer small changes the scales start to move. Consistency compounds and success is not a goal to reach, there’s no finish line to cross. It is an endless process of refining because we can always be better. Look back and be proud of how far you have come but also look into the future with excitement of how much untapped greatness you have.
“When making plans, think big, When making progress, think small.” James Clear
Great read bro. Loved the quote at the end !!